This practical resource explains brain development from prenatal to age 8 with suggestions for activities educators and caregivers can use to foster children's cognitive growth. The authors begin with the basics of brain development, and the issues that affect it, and then provide information specific to infant, toddler, preschool, and…

Social competency is a set of skills that provide children with the tools and abilities to successfully navigate the world around them. "Developing Social Competency in Young Children" looks at each of the seven Cs of social competence--communication, community building, coping, confidence, conflict resolution, control, and curiosity.…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which students develop such interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies as teamwork, social awareness, self-regulation, and emotional awareness. Although schools in the United States have always addressed these competencies, in recent years, the availability of resources to address SEL…

During early childhood, practitioners and family members are often tasked with determining optimal approaches to support social skill development in young children with developmental disabilities in inclusive and self-contained settings. Eight different evidence based approaches are highlighted (social narratives, scripting, pivotal response…

In recent decades, research and practice have shown that investing in a positive school-wide social culture is a key component of effective education. Evidence demonstrates that educators and students succeed when students are present, engaged, socially secure, and academically successful. Developed by 2M Research in conjunction with an expert…

Summer programs that experiment with combining media literacy and social-emotional learning can potentially affect students' academic performance. Based on a six-week program, working with rising eighth grade students in a low-income school district, this program allowed students to work on media projects while trying to develop stronger…

Educators today are challenged with the task of designing curricula and standards for students of varying abilities. While technology and innovation steadily improve classroom learning, teachers and administrators continue to struggle in developing the best methodologies and practices for students with disabilities. "Models for Effective…

The purpose of this article is to critically review the literature on parent-implemented interventions aimed at promoting and enhancing the social and communicative behavior of young children with autism spectrum disorders. Twelve parent-implemented intervention studies that were conducted, at least in part, in home environments and were published…

In response to requests from out-of-school time (OST) providers, the authors have created this practitioner's guidebook for integrating adolescent literacy development initiatives into a wide variety of OST programs. As readers will discover in subsequent chapters, the authors' definition of adolescent literacy development represents a…

In this article, the author states his belief that community based learning among adults can be a powerful force for encouraging personal development and for strengthening democracy in this multicultural, globally interdependent, battered world. To do so, however, it needs to pervade all the curricula, degree programs, learning contracts, and…

The high-tech environment of the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) may seem a million miles away from the classroom, but the baby who has been born prematurely, wired up in an incubator in the former, will in five years' time be a learner in the other. The journeys through our education system of children who have survived premature birth to become…

Children with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) vary in many respects. In school, specific conditions have to be fulfilled in order to deal adequately with EBD. This study addresses the question how mainstream primary schools design different instructional situations to support pupils with EBD in practice, and how this design could be…

Children learn more about themselves when they explore the special joys and responsibilities of friendship. Activities that encourage students to think about what it is to be or to have a friend are suggested. (DF)

Teaching social skills to mainstreamed handicapped children can be accomplished by prompting, praising, using graduated guidance, and capitalizing on incidental teaching. (CL)

Ten suggestions for improving the social skills of learning disabled students include teaching the child to make eye contact while talking, explaining implications of voice qualities, role playing to examine emotions, and providing direct instruction on appropriate responses in social situations. (CL)